8 Oct 2020

Diamondhead man who purchased over 100 18-wheelers is now heading to prison for bank fraud

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60-year-old Louis Joseph Normand, Jr. of Diamondhead has been sentenced to 57 months in prison for bank fraud. 

The office of U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst said Normand owned businesses involved in the sale of trucks called National Truck Funding and American Truck Group. 

From 2013 until 2017, he purchased well over 100 18-wheeler trucks for resale.  During that time, he received financing from a local bank, as well as private lenders, for 80% of the sales price. 

In order to increase the amount of the loan and decrease the amount of his down payment, he created false invoices inflating the sales price and, therefore, the amount of the loans he received.  Over this period, Normand was loaned almost $5,000,000, which was approximately 130% of the actual purchase price of the vehicles.

Normand pled guilty on July 7, 2020 to a Criminal Information charging him with bank fraud.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney John Meynardie.

The Consumer Protection Division of the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office received the first complaint in 2003.  As a pattern began to arise, and after further investigation, attorneys determined the matter to be federal bank fraud and contacted the FBI to pursue the case.

Attorney General Lynn Fitch said, “My office remains dedicated to protecting Mississippi consumers from deceptive and predatory business practices,” said Attorney General Lynn Fitch. “I want to thank the devoted professionals in my office, our partners at the FBI, and the court for holding bad actors accountable. Enforcing consumer protection laws is not only important to the impacted individual, but to the economy as a whole. Consumers and businesses alike need to know that their interactions in the market are fair.”
In addition to his sentence, Normand will be subject to 5 years supervised probation and was ordered to pay $891,668 to People’s Bank and $763,283 to EvaBank for a total restitution of $1,654,951.

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